Thousands of Americans Swim, Paddle and Clean Up Their Local Waterways to Celebrate the Importance of Clean Water Nationwide

April 11, 2014

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Waterkeeper Alliance, the global environmental organization dedicated to defending every person’s right to clean water, announced today the locations of its 4th Annual SPLASH Event Series, presented nationally by Toyota. SPLASH events will take place in waterways across the United States to raise funds to support Waterkeeper Alliance and local Waterkeeper member organizations by engaging community members and clean-water enthusiasts in water-based recreational activities like swimming, paddling, boating, as well as on-water clean up events. The 2014 SPLASH Series kicks off in Malibu, California at Stand Up for Clean Water to benefit Los Angeles Waterkeeper and continues with a special “drought edition” of the Great Russian River Race on Sonoma County’s Russian River, which has nearly run dry due to severe lack of rain and snowmelt. Additional SPLASH events will take place in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Washington throughout the season.

“Every person should be able to safely access their local waterway to swim, drink, fish and play,” said Marc Yaggi, executive director of Waterkeeper Alliance. “We are thankful to Toyota for presenting this national program to encourage recreation on local lakes, rivers, streams and bays. Access to this type of recreation is one of the most important benefits of our work to patrol and protect the world’s waterways from pollution.”

“At Toyota our commitment to the environment is built into everything we do, from creating fuel-efficient vehicles to aiming for zero waste in our manufacturing plants to partnering with innovative conservation organization, such as Waterkeeper Alliance,” said Latondra Newton, chief corporate social responsibility officer, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. “We are so proud to support the 2014 SPLASH series to help raise awareness of the importance of protecting our water resources while encouraging community members to enjoy their local waterways.”

Each of the events scheduled for the 2014 SPLASH Series will be designed to suit the interests of the local community in which the event takes place and feature festivities the whole community can enjoy.

On April 12, the first of this season’s SPLASH events, Stand Up for Clean Water, will take place in Malibu, California. This exciting day will be filled with competitive and non-competitive stand-up paddleboard races and a variety of educational and watersports activities for the whole family. After a day on the water, supporters will enjoy an After Party with live music by a celebrity All-Star band starring: Dave Krusen (former drummer of Pearl Jam), Christopher Thorn (guitarist of Blind Melon, Live and Awol Nation), Rami Jaffee (keyboardist of Foo Fighters and Wallflowers), Jessy Greene (former violinist of Foo Fighters, Wilco and Pink) and Jonny Kaplan (singer/guitarist of Jonny Kaplan and the Lazy)

On May 3, hundreds of supporters will convene at the Great Russian River Race: Drought Edition in Healdsburg, CA for a party on the riverbank to raise critical awareness for the unique issues facing their waterway, and a limited paddle race on the low-riding river. On May 9 and May 10, Hudson Riverkeeper will conduct a SPLASH cleanup event at more than 60 sites along the River in which more than 1,000 individuals will clear over 1,000 cubic yards of waste from the watershed to prepare it for recreation. Other SPLASH events will follow throughout the year in markets across the country, including Mobile, AL; Frankfurt, KY; New Bedford, MA; Secaucus, NJ; Seattle, WA and others.

About WATERKEEPER® Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance is a global movement uniting more than 200 Waterkeeper organizations and focusing citizen advocacy on the issues that affect our waterways, from pollution to climate change. Waterkeepers patrol more than 1.5 million square miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. Waterkeeper Alliance was founded in 1999 by veteran Waterkeepers and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Learn more at: www.waterkeeper.org or follow @Waterkeeper on Twitter and Facebook.

About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexusand Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants and directly employ more than 40,000 people. Our 1,800 North American dealerships sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks in 2013 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.

Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company’s extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. To date, Toyota has contributed more than $700 million to nonprofits in the U.S. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com/community.

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